When I Was A Child

by Stuart Malkin 31 January 2022

How good were you at school?   Personally, not very good,  but I did enjoy the subject of History.   I have a book that I cherish headed “Photos that changed the World”.   Each pair of pages generally has a black and white photograph of the incident and on the other a write up, some of which are quite graphic.  It is modern history, starting with the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake through to 2005  Hurricane Katrina which devastated New Orleans.   Much has happened in the world since then and history will continue to be  made. No doubt you can recall many major events that have impacted the world in your lifetime. There is an old biblical phrase that immediately comes to mind which is so true when thinking of history, “there will wars and rumours of wars”.   On the other hand there have been great discoveries which have led to amazing diseases being overcome, currently we are going through one.   How about people who have tried to show us there is another way to our lives, Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech is just one example.  Just think how many of you have said or thought when I was a child these things happened or were said for the good.

Reading John 6:12 to 15
When they were all full, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces left over,  let us not waste any” So they gathered them all up and filled twelve baskets with the pieces left over from the five barley loaves which the people had eaten.

Seeing this miracle that Jesus had performed the people there said, “Surely this is the prophet who was come into the world” Jesus knew that they were about to come and seize him in order to make him king by force, so he went off again to the hills by himself.

For the child in the early part of this bible story, recounted in the song, it was an event not to forget, no doubt the phrase “When I was a child”, came up in his lifetime.  He had been part of an historic event, never to be forgotten.  Can you imagine being one of so many, having so little to share, but he did.

What was Jesus doing as he blessed this food ?  Was He trying to show the 5000 he could just feed them or more?

Surely Jesus was trying to get to the heart of these people by showing them that God had seen their need and would fulfil it,  and not just by what they wanted.

Many instances in the life of the world have, and will continue,  if the difference between what is required and what is wanted is identified.

In the latter part of the reading above, it’s obvious that the people had seen the miracle in the wrong light. Were they looking for a King of the Jews, or were they seeing the true greatness and goodness of God that Jesus was trying to show?

Jesus was not interested in powerful kingship,  he did what he often did and found solace in this case in the hills away from the masses. Going home the people no doubt were confused, but Jesus had another day to help them just as he still does with us today.

Prayer
Father God we humans get confused on many levels, maybe what we require and want should be so obvious! Please help us Lord and also all our brothers and sisters around your world so that more becomes clear.
Amen